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Episode 1: The First Day of School · The Unconducted Curriculum

• speaker-1: Get it done I'm conducting Kerrigi I'm conducting curriculum The curriculum Welcome to the Unconducted Curriculum Podcast, the podcast about everything they didn't teach you in music school. I'm Chris McClellan. And together we're going to talk about the part of being a band director that doesn't always make it into your conducting classes, methods courses, or music education textbooks. speaker-0: And I'm Tina Parr. Because knowing how to conduct a march, teach a scale, or analyze a score is important. But once you step into the band room, you quickly discover there's a whole other speaker-1: curriculum. And that's the unconducted curriculum. speaker-0: This podcast is about the real everyday work of being successful as a band director. speaker-1: You know, the things nobody mentioned when you decided to become a music educator, things like figuring out why some percussion accessories disappeared. speaker-0: Again and again. speaker-1: While there are seventeen students standing in your office asking questions five minutes before rehearsal? speaker-0: And why the instrument that I fixed yesterday is now somehow in three pieces. speaker-1: Exactly. But beyond the funny stories, there's a serious purpose behind this podcast. We want to talk about the systems, strategies, and habits that can make running a band program more effective and make the job more sustainable for the people doing it. speaker-0: Great programs aren't built on music alone. They're built on relationships, organization, consistency, communication, expectations, and culture. And they are built by directors who are constantly learning how to become better teachers and leaders. speaker-1: Some episodes will focus on practical strategies you can take into rehearsal the next day. Others will tackle the bigger questions. How do you build a healthy culture? How do you develop student leaders? How do you organize a program so you're not constantly putting out fires? How do you communicate effectively with parents and administrators? And maybe most importantly, how do you build a great band program without allowing the great band program to consume your entire life? speaker-0: We'll share things that have worked, the few things we thought were going to work, and we'll learn from other music educators along the way. speaker-1: Things that haven't worked. That definitely did not. So whether you're a first year teacher trying to survive your first semester speaker-0: A veteran director looking for a fresh perspective. speaker-1: A college music education student wondering what the job really entails? speaker-0: or simply a music educator who loves talking about teaching band and building better programs. speaker-1: This podcast is for you, because none of us has this profession completely figured out, but we can learn from one another, we can share ideas, we can talk about the successes and the mistakes, and hopefully we can make each other a little better at what we do. One person. One student. speaker-0: So, speaker-1: So grab your coffee, your pencil, and an open mind. Welcome to the Unconducted Curriculum Podcast. Let's start it. So I'll start off and I'll just kind of talk about a little bit about my first year as a band director and how clueless I was. And I think a lot of us coming out of college feel like we have all the knowledge that we need to be successful in this business. And we read Yeah. And we find out real quick that maybe that's not. speaker-0: And this is it, man. speaker-1: case. And for me, it was very true. I graduated in the summer, not fall or spring, but I found a job before I actually graduated. Me too. Two A school, Thorndale High School outside of Austin. Just had become two A from being a one A school, very football oriented. They had won the one A state championship the year before. And now here they are coming two A. The band program hadn't been real successful, which, you know That can be a good thing for a first year teacher to to kind of step into in some ways and in some ways it's not. And I found out pretty quickly that I just didn't know a lot of things that I needed to know. One of one of my biggest hurdles right off the bat was I sit down in my office and I have an Apple two E computer. And I'd never been on an Apple computer in my life. I'd always been on a Windows computer. And I kept pushing return or enter and nothing would happen. Because you had to like like control alt C or something to get it to actually go to the next line. speaker-0: I don't even remember a computer. I remember getting printouts of roles and things like that. I mean seriously I don't speaker-1: Yeah. I mean it was very basic, you know, black and white screen. Yeah. Green font screens. You know, it was before Windows and, you know, all that stuff came out. Crazy. So we're talking like, you know, early nineties. This was ninety three for me. And so just kind of figuring out that kind of stuff. But then also I had this weird situation with my high school band where there was a Lutheran school in town. speaker-0: No, you're right. I do remember that. speaker-1: that went through eighth grade. Well, those eighth graders, because I had eighth graders in my marching band, my high school band, the eighth grade kids that wanted to be in band from the Lutheran school came to my program to be in band. That was a challenge. And they would start in sixth grade. speaker-0: Culture mixing their culture. speaker-1: Yeah, I mean it there I don't remember it being a big culture thing disparage because they started in sixth grade with the other the kids that went to Thorndale ISD sixth grade. But it was such a small community, they knew each other. It wasn't like this weird parochial school versus public school kind of thing. It was just the challenges of them bussing over and always being late to class and having to leave early and this and that and all these different types of things. You know, and so Just all of that stuff, putting a marching band on the field, doing it all myself, writing all the drill, picking stock music, because that's what we did back then. Right. Did a Disney show. Just something I thought the kids would like. When they did, they liked it, but we didn't do real well because I just didn't really know what I was doing with the whole band. And we didn't have just a ton of talent. We had Were you by yourself? By myself. Totally by myself. And I taught everything from fifth grade speaker-0: Your o speaker-1: No, fourth grade recorder class. Wow. All the way through high school band. speaker-0: Wow. So you were thrown into the fire, basically. speaker-1: So I was thrown into the fire and I had to learn as I went and I learned a lot. I learned a lot a lot what not to do, learned a lot what to do, but that was a challenge for me. And because it was pretty far away from home base, you know, where I went to college or where I grew up, I really didn't know anybody down there. So I didn't have somebody close by I could reach out to and just ask questions, all that kind of stuff. And so it was a challenge, but I sort of I survived it. You know, we start people. Well, that was the thing. I didn't there wasn't anybody close by to reach out to. And I would reach out to my college director and ask some questions and things. But some of that was, you know, from a college band director perspective and not from a right that situation perspective. So it's kind of like you gotta take it with a grain of salt, you gotta figure out what works, what doesn't work. We started off with a speaker-0: Did you reach out to Well, that's one thing about nowadays. You can reach out more to people that are far away with mentors and things like that, but also just calling, but even doing what you know, like FaceTiming or whatever to get help. And that's just real important because you're gonna learn and move a lot. speaker-1: Right. I mean, today's technology gives them so many options that nineteen ninety three, I don't think I even had a cellphone yet. If I did, it was one for the just like an emergency and you didn't use it because it was so expensive. speaker-0: I car I had a car like bag song. speaker-1: That's what my that's what Mary had, my wife had. Yeah. speaker-0: It was for emergencies and it cr it cost by minutes, by minutes, and everything. So communication was way different back then. Way different. Had to have line. Do you remember that like you had to get permission like for the number to be at a call that cost? You know what I'm saying? That it wasn't a toll free call, so you had a special number or code you had to use through the school district so they would pay. And then if you went over the minutes that you were supposed to, it was crazy. speaker-1: What no internet yet. Yeah, it was it was nuts. And so yeah, just all of that made communication much more difficult. Everybody nowadays is so easily accessible. If you can't get ⁓ on the phone, then you text ⁓ they'll respond, you know. speaker-0: But also, you know, like I I know a lot more people are now more open to reaching out to people for advice or for suggestions or for mentors, which is fabulous. But I just want everyone to just keep in mind that just asking anyone anything and different opinions and help and the more there's so many people out there that will even go out to your campus to help you. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. And I mean no, we did ⁓ that didn't really exist like it does now. Mm-hmm. No. Back back when I started, when band directors retired, band directors retired. Yes. And now so many of us like you and I we're retired from full time band directing, but we're in the classroom every day still. Pretty much as mentor or a clinician or whatever. Yeah. And And it's great. I mean, I I've been out last week and this week working with programs that have all told me, you know, normally we wouldn't have somebody come out this early in the season, but we want to start off with being able to get critique on things that we're missing so that we don't wait until late September, early October to bring somebody in and then we have all these little details that we just have overlooked. And I think that's that's awesome. speaker-0: And I'm I'm running into that too, where because of like directors I'm working with, but then they've hired first year teachers or very young teachers. And so they want me to get started like the third or fourth week of school to just just monitor and just, you know, praise everything that everybody's doing to make sure everybody's on the same page and that pacing is doing well and discipline and all aspects of that, just culture all of it and and that they're matching. Cause you can't see in a beginner situation if you're fortunate to have more than one director, you can't see the other director teaching all the time. So it's making them a team. And so I'm really excited to start that when school starts. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, me too. I mean, I have I have one young man that I was his student teacher supervisor. This is his third year now as a band director. And he still wants me to come out every six weeks and mentor him and see how he's doing. And he's he's doing great. You know, he's made sweepstakes his first two years. Right. Which is awesome. But he knows that he still has a long way to go. He has a lot to learn. And the school district and the the director of bands is willing to bring me in and and continue that mentorship because there are some times when the head director can't be in his classes. And when you're teaching, and and this is a 4A district. So you've got three full-time directors in this district. You have a couple of directors that are part-time that are retired folks that come in and help with beginners mainly. And then I come in once a six weeks and kind of do some observation and I work with the marching band and do different things. But it it's just one of those things where Every six weeks I can go in and I'm like, okay, so we've we've talked about you working on this. How's this going? Or how come I don't seeing this still? Things like that. And just kind of hold them accountable, especially in those beginner classes, because they're all teaching a beginner class in different rooms at the same time. And so how do you how do you monitor that? And so that I think that those are are really great things. We kind of talk about this as being essential tips for first year band directors for success. this this particular podcast. So day one, tell me what you do like day one. Cause I know what I would do and I know what I teach my student teachers you need to do on day one, first day of school, first day of your career. Say you're a middle school director. What do you speaker-0: You do. Very much it's a culture thing. Everything's so inviting. You're welcome into the classroom. You're just I'm so glad you're here. You can have music going on and it can be, you know, stuff that you think they can relate to. Just really making it fun but structured. You know, they're coming in feeling welcome. They're coming in knowing, Yeah, you're you'll get your instrument soon, but not yet. You know, we're gonna you know, and also like with beginners, it's like, you know, start developing the team like If you have a flute and trumpet class together, put the flutes on one side and the trumpets on one side on the first couple of rows and have them meet their teams and then also say, Hey, we're still the whole big band team. And you can go through even the first day and make fun games out of like the seat seating positions. You can show ⁓ the podium and you can hop on and off. You know, it's basically a culture thing of this is banned. You could even introduce the metronome and start tapping your foot or tap your foot to music. Depends how long the classes are and what you can do. But there's so many fun things, but it's culture. It is. It's it's a a belonging and that you're everybody's so glad to see you. You know, also in middle school, like especially most middle schools start in sixth grade. They're coming from different elementary schools. So they all don't know each other. So like I was saying, here's the fluke team and they can even, you know, we can say names and we can kind of do that. And then the trumpets could be together a little bit. We could separate a little bit too and then bring them all together. There's a lot of fun games to play with them to get them comfortable with each other, realizing they're on a team. And it's a team within a team. speaker-1: Well, and you know, from a small school perspective, since I'm working with several for A school districts and a few smaller than that, but they they don't all come from different elementaries. They all come from basically the same elementary. They've grown up since kindergarten, most of ⁓ So they know each other real well. And so when you get them into that band class on day one, they already know each other. They already have this kind of camaraderie or whatever. You may have some new kids to the district that you're trying to work in and get them comfortable with the rest of the class, kind of recognizing that that those kids are there and that they're gonna, you know, need a little bit of support to get to know each other. But it it becomes real quick, you know, yes, let's let's set the mood. Let's talk about, let's let's build the culture, let's build the relationship with our students. But then it it has to transition pretty quickly into expectations, you know, and start teaching those expectations. And maybe that's on Day two where you start talking about your expectations. speaker-0: But I still think you you still can do that on day one too. But they just don't know they're really expectations, you know what I'm saying? But playing games, like I was saying, playing games of that. But even with the seventh and eighth graders that more or less do know each other, it's it's just still do what they did at the end of sixth and seventh grade. How they enter the room, how they put where they put their cases. How they sit in their chairs and all of that, how they hold their instruments, everything. Even on the first day you can do all that. But yeah, you have to be consistent and and stay as exact as you can be with a three kiddos. speaker-1: Well, and I think the worst thing, like if I'm and I always tell folks, you know, people that I'm mentoring or whatever, I always ha ask this question of them at the end of their their class, whether it went fabulous or horrible or whatever it was, the question is always, if you were a student in this class, would you have enjoyed it? Yes. And so day one, if you come in, you get ⁓ seated and all you do is cover the band handbook on day one. No. ⁓ my gosh. No. I don't want to be in this class. Right. Because every class all day long, that's all they're doing is talking about procedures and school supplies and this and that. Yeah. We have to create an environment that is welcoming, like you said, an environment that is where they can go, ⁓ this is different. This is cool. I like this. You know. All the other stuff can wait till the next day. speaker-0: Agree. Also, you want them to leave telling their friends that aren't in band how much fun you had because you still can gain students in band and you don't want to lose any. So you want them walking out, we did this, we did this. ⁓ my gosh, it was so fun. They even played, you know, this song in there, you know. So it's it's great. speaker-1: Yeah. And about the only procedural thing I really would cover on day one is just kind of finding out and making sure I had an accurate record, especially with my beginners, of who has an instrument lined up, who still needs to get an instrument. So that I can start calling parents and doing this and that outside of class to make sure that those things are happening. Yes. But Yeah. Just make day one something that they're gonna remember, something they're gonna they're gonna talk about. Yeah. They're gonna go home excited. And the way a lot a lot of schools start now, we're starting school on like a Wednesday or a Thursday. No. Just so we can get those yeah. Just so that we can get the procedural things out of the way and start fresh on Monday. Yep. So let that first day at least be be a little bit more invited. speaker-0: I know. But I do agree with you about like the instruments keeping track of who has what or what music store or if you have something that's been in the attic. Seriously, is you have to have a good spreadsheet that you're working off of and just checking off every kid that has something, but it needs to be even more detailed for next week. But you know, that they can show you. And also if it's still at home, please bring it up here and you just have them keep it here until we're ready to go. But also it reassures the kiddos to say, Yeah, the music stores have been here. This person has theirs. This person has theirs. Yep. You know, so the kid can go, My flute was there, you know, my saxophone was there. But and tell them that look, it's gonna be a minute before we open cases. We will, but not yet. We gotta get ever other stuff going. But I do agree with you on that. It just makes them feel even more a part of speaker-1: Right. Absolutely. Well, and you know, kind of all of this to me, especially with like that first day making them excited about things and stuff like that. To me, before any program's gonna be successful, we have to have buy in from the kids. We have to have trust from the kids and the and how you do that really isn't a secret to me. You know, you've got to build relationships with those kids from day one. Yes. Let them know that you're not just interested in them for music. Ask them questions about, you know themselves, yeah. What else they're doing. You know, hey, how was your game last night? Did you guys win? Did you get to play? You know speaker-0: I learned that my first few years of teaching. I taught at Odin Middle School in Beaumont, Texas, my first three years of teaching in very diverse school. ⁓ Beaumont was going through some things where literally they ping pong ball kids to make sure that every school had kids from all over Beaumont in it. But they did have, like if you lived in a mile radius, which you would have to walk, that you would still go to that school. So it was very diverse. And very good in that. So it just really helped with all of that, you know, just keeping everybody there and knowing what they're speaker-1: doing. Yeah. And for me, it was I mean, the first year I taught, I I figured out pretty quickly, especially with my high school kids. Had to kind of build a relationship with them. Well and when you're a first year teacher and from in my case I'm four years older than some of these seniors. Right. Right. And you're trying to teach you know, and it's like it's a it's a difficult difficult thing. speaker-0: first year teaching, I taught with Ross White, and he was fabulous to teach with my first very few years because he was so encouraging. So encouraging to me and students. And one thing that I picked up out from him is that he always complimented things about the student. And what I mean is their shoes, their socks, if they have a hairbow in or whatever, like find something that will light up their day. And also like You know, I'm constantly directors are constantly looking at feet. Are they tapping their foot or whatever? I compliment shoes so much. ⁓ my gosh, those are cute pink Nikeys or whatever it is. Or, you know, I love your bow or whatever. And and I really truly do. But it also he did it all the time and it was so good. And he high-fived them and fist pumped them all the time. And I started doing that. And I started interacting like that. And it has stayed with me the whole time. So he really taught me. How to build relationships. And I'm very thankful for Ross. He was so good in that aspect. And you know, we had kids just like I said, very diverse that would say, No one's ever complimented me. And I mean, I'm serious. I'm like, ⁓ well, I don't know why. Or, you know, whatever you say, but I love that, you know, about you, or I love your smile. And that's another thing in an email. Any email you send to a parent, parents griping, not whatever, you always end with Johnny. Johnny is such a great kiddo, or something that, you know, went on and you're like, you know, I don't know about Johnny, but you can say, man, Johnny has a great smile. Johnny's always happy. I love that he jokes. We just don't need to joke here. But always end on a positive note for the parent. So whatever's going on, they're like, okay, all right. They're trying to build a relationship. They they kind of can see how my kid is and and and do something that really is true about them that's positive. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, and and one thing I'd I did with my high school kids, my the beginner classes that I taught, whoever I had in the class, even my music theory kids, every six weeks I I always had a goal that I was gonna send home at least ten glow notes. So things that hey, your kid was great today because I saw them helping another student without even being asked to. They were explaining, they were working with them after school, whatever the case, sending that that little email home and just and I had a little card for the beginning of my career before email and all that stuff was so prevalent, it was sending that and I would mail it. I'd put a a postcard stamp on it and mail it. Right. You know? Right. ⁓ and that helped me so much, especially when like you're talking about telling them something good about the kid at the end of the email. But if they've gotten something good about their student before I've ever kne had to call them about something that might have gone wrong. Then they know that I'm not just calling them speaker-0: Right. No, it's true. speaker-1: For the bad thing, but for the good you know, that I've already complimented their kid, but hey, today we had this issue and and that helped tremendously. speaker-0: Love that, you know, and this is middle school again, but you have before school starts, you get like your eighth grade leadership team together to come up. They can help you stuff finders, they can all that kind of stuff help you with. But also, like you're saying, have little postcards. Give them a a six new sixth graders name and what instrument they're gonna play, and have them write right literally write the postcard. And you have your the sticker to put the address on and you can drop it in. And then also they can do it. mid year year too, you know, or have a party with all that to do that. But it's that's such a great thing 'cause the parents see it first and they're like, Wow, I just got a postcard from so and so band and so and so said whatever. I mean it's because we don't see that in the mail as much anymore. So postcards are speaker-1: Great. They are great. I mean, and it's cheap. Yeah. It's not as ch it's not as expensive as a full stamp, but at least I can remember it being like six cents at one point. Yeah. speaker-0: No any It was but but also like most schools do have bulk bulk mail that you can go bring it to wherever they mail and they'll run it through and it's not it it you know, it's even a better price than at the post. speaker-1: Yeah. And we did that with our our our seniors would do that to incoming eighth graders. ⁓ I love it. Write them a note about, you know, what they experienced coming into the the high school program as a ninth grader and why they're still there as a senior and you know, all the things that they've learned or what they've cherished about being in the program. Just to kind of help them feel like, Hey, maybe this is something that that I can do or this is something they really want me in, that type of thing. So all of that is fantastic. But when you're, you know, building those relationships, learn names quickly. Kids really respond when you know their names. My first year in Springtown, before summer band even began, and we just were doing like registration or something. And ⁓ I had met with some of the kids throughout the summer just at different spots, but certainly hadn't met a lot of them. And most of them, if I had met ⁓ it was briefly. And I remember this one One young lady walked in and ⁓ she walked into the band hall and I was the only one in the band hall at the time. I was setting up chairs or doing something and she came in ⁓ and I said, Hi, Ariel and she looked at me and she goes, Do you know my name? Yeah. It's like, Yeah, I know your name. And just that kind of thing makes a big impact on kids where they feel like they're valued, that you value them, you know. speaker-0: Mm-hmm. I loved it when you finally could open your role and you saw pictures of students. Mm-hmm. I can remember when that happened because I could literally color print the role with names before I even met the students. Right. Because I've always had a difficulty with names. And so it helped me, even if I had it on my podium. Also, name tags on stands are fabulous. I love them get in a habit of having them every day in case someone walks in, admin or even like the mentor or whatever's coming in. speaker-1: Yeah, that was great when I and when I was mentoring at your campus your final year at Reynolds and Prosper. And every t every time I came, those names were on those stands. Mm-hmm. Which helps me as somebody who comes in once a month, once every six weeks or whatever, to be able to address kids and remember kids. And even it in in those short spurts of one day every few weeks, start to know some of the kids. And and so it's valuable and in and I've talk to people about doing it and they're like, ⁓ that's such a great idea. But after I learn all their names, can I take it down? And I was like, No. After happening after after everybody learns their name, like everybody on your staff knows everybody's name? No. speaker-0: And also here's the other thing. I always had it where it was like ⁓ a third of it would bend at the top on the stand. So that top third had important quotes. And then it would have numbers. Like numbered to I think it numbered to 10 and a line and line across. So if a guest came in or there was something we wanted to put down, we'd go quote of the day and we would take thank you down and write that quote. Or why that's yeah. So it became more than whatever. And then also like sometimes if you need something, you have thirty seconds. Talk about all your quotes. Take your name tag off. Talk about quotes, you know, because things come up or whatever and it's a good share time with each other. But it's it is useful. It's useful even for that. speaker-1: It is and and I love that. A couple of the groups that I work with their name tags on there and you know, if I say something that they feel like is memorable or profound or something that they need to remember, you know, write that down. Write that down right now. Everybody write that down. speaker-0: I can remember like superintendent walking in the room and then afterwards because they were calling names and they felt so important. Of course they're on their stands and they forget, but they felt so important. How does they and then on you know, they're like, I love the name tags. We need to do that throughout the whole school. It was just she she said she had so much fun because she could just boom boom boom and it and interact with them. So well speaker-1: And that's that's how you you get principals on your side. You get them wanting to come into your classroom. Everybody's so afraid of a principal coming into your classroom. No. And I'm like, no, I want them to come in. I want them to come to my rehearsal outside on the speaker-0: And that brings also, yeah, the point of welcoming people that come in. Yeah. Everyone welcomes Mr. and Mrs. Yes, or good afternoon, so and so. And they repeat what you say. You train them to repeat and to look in the direction you're looking. And and they will always answer back something right back to them. And it also gives that that guest an opportunity to say something else. It's not just good morning back, but it makes it interactive. And the kids get used to people walking in the room and they're comfortable with it. I also think it makes the the directors more comfortable too. And I always invite them to walk around. Please walk around. I said, and I'll tell the students, you know, point out stuff we're playing or, you know, whatever. Please come in. It just it it helps the whole environment feel welcome. speaker-1: It does. It r it really does. It really does. So ⁓ going back to being a successful first year teacher. Mm-hmm. I think the word that I use more than anything with a with my student teachers and then first year teachers is consistency. Mm-hmm. Right? I mean you've got to be consistent. And so develop a consistent rehearsal routine. Be consistent with your behavior expectations. Don't play favorites. All of those things, we hear that. Mm. People have heard that a hundred times. It's harder to do than it is to say. It's like, well, if I just be consistent, then it will be good. speaker-0: Well, and also some directors will say it's it's not in my personality or you know what I'm saying? Or it's not whatever. So write yourself some notes because also it's kind of a safety net for the students. They thrive on that. They thrive on on everything being consistent on how they sit, how they bring their instruments up, how they freeze at the end of every note and go right back to whatever you want to call like third position or whatever you want to call it, ready position. So there's They know they don't talk in ready position. speaker-1: Right. And I I know that part of that problem too, just from working with ⁓ so many young directors, is they feel like, well, if I do all that, if I am consistently reinforcing and enforcing that, they're not gonna like me. And it's like no, that's not true. If you're yelling at them and you're constantly correcting things, yeah, that's they're not gonna like you. You could be silly. speaker-0: Not be silly with them. speaker-1: You can have a personality, you can talk to them. You don't have to raise your voice, but they do crave consistency. speaker-0: Yeah, and also like I can have an on off switch switch. You know, things are whatever, and I'm having to give that teacher look. And then I look at the whole class and smile, like we're ready to go on. That's my cue of we are ready to go on. Yes, you do. And it's like during that and then it's like speaker-1: Right. And I know that smile. It's okay. speaker-0: Get used to it. Yes. And also they learn that I've I'm not gonna hold a grudge and everyone's gonna make a mistake. And we always have that fun loving kid that loves to tell jokes or blurt out or whatever. And you have to like, nope, don't do that. Stop. All right, here go. You know, you still can have fun. You still can hop off the podium, literally, and like give them thirty seconds to talk about what they love about that piece of music and let them and you can walk around and talk to a couple of people on the ends of the rows or whatever. And then they You kind of look at them and you wave it. I always waved at ⁓ on the side of the podium. And then when I hopped up, they went right up to ready position and weren't they weren't allowed to talk and they didn't. And they knew that if they did that really well, but that starts like with the first day of school. Seriously. But even six even with beginners, you can have fun with ready position. They just go to the edge of the chip. Who can do it fastest? All speaker-1: that. I would play a game with my beginners because my cue was is I like to get off the podium. I like to walk around the classroom. We do I don't like to be stationary. And so for me, when I stepped off the podium, it wasn't this is your time to goof around because they would be playing music. We were in a rehearsal, maybe Metronoma's running this portion of the rehearsal or whatever. And I'm gonna walk around just to be present in different areas of the rehearsal, to hear things differently, to see what is on their stand. Do they have their music up? And I see that so much. It's like especially during warm up. Kids like, Well, I know these warm ups. I'm like, Do you? And and it's kind of, you know, or do they have their pencil out or whatever? But it gives me that opportunity to walk around and get with with in in the mix. And and then as soon as I step back on the podium if I've given them time to discuss this or talk to your neighbor about the key signature or show your neighbor a fingering or whatever, I'll get off the podium briefly, let them talk about that. As soon as I step back up, they know that's that's shut it off. And everybody can have different signals. Raising your hand in the air, blah blah blah. I love the nonverbal signal. When you assume Yeah. Don't say anything. You know, be quiet. Be quiet. speaker-0: Me to do not say anything. speaker-1: Be quiet it's yeah. That doesn't speaker-0: Allowed the hush, all that wasn't allowed. And even if we were in a big group, they were taught hey hay ban. Because you take three hundred or more kids to six months or wherever you're going, they'll have to be hay band. Or the whole raise their hand and they had to raise it when you raised it. Yeah. And they had to get quiet. Yeah. So yeah. speaker-1: Different procedures for different ensembles because with a marching band, you're not gonna be on a podium. No. And so for us it was if I'm on the tower and I'm addressing the flutes, hey flutes, I'm raising my hand, and they all raise their hand and look at me. That way I know they're they're hearing me. There's different procedures for that. But the the biggest thing is is when it can be, especially inside. I I love the the nonverbal side of things. I do too. speaker-0: No, it works so well up. You know. Well, and also you learn signals because I'm teching someone marching band and working sectionals with McKinney High School and love it. But like there's nonverbals I'm walking around to like shoulders, you know, on the L under here. But it's also in a band hall sitting down that I can go and do this. You know, I can make a clarinet face and like point to my chin more or whatever. There's so many nonverbals that you can do. You can point to your foot to remind them to pack their foot. You don't have to stop everything. Just encourage things. Find your groove in that so they understand what you're doing. You know, I even would do like alligators ⁓ with you know to do, you know, trying to get them in time. But yeah, all of that helps so much. The more you raise their voice, the more it doesn't feel comfortable in the whole room for everybody. You know, so and also just don't go off until they're quiet. They'll do it. No. They'll do it. I I do love I've been seeing in more band halls is during concert season is a row in the ⁓ the middle. The middle of the setup. I love that. It's not a really it's it's enough for you to walk, but like you're saying, getting off the podium and as the Mets going in, they're knowing that you're going through your warm-up routines and you're and also compliment them, like whisper to them. speaker-1: No. speaker-0: Gosh, that sounds so good. ⁓ I love how you're doing that. Or the nonverbals point to your shoulders. You know, whatever it takes. I would do two fingers down for feet flat on the floor because they'll tuck their feet. But it's just making sure everybody looks right. And it and you're doing it also when you're walking around, you're doing it without anybody else knowing except that person that you're walking by. So it's that's really good. You know, people always ask like, ⁓ how can you have like the middle aisle and that didn't that what I was like, as you're getting closer to a performance, you close it in. Yeah. Yeah. You just open and close ⁓ which reminds me, dots on the floor. I love dots on the floor. Even for Martin Band that they have what lines the flutes are on or whatever. But even for concert band, I love them. And if you have a different setup from beginners to your advanced bands in middle school, you just have like a color. Like shape. Yes. And at the end of that one class, they can set it up for beginners and it goes to red, go to all red. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: ⁓ my goodness, it makes a world of difference and the kids need to just be trained. When they're done at the end of the class period, they must put the chairs back on the dots and the stand back on that half always had the stands on a half dot and it worked. And you can get them now really good products. Really speaker-1: Really cheap on Amazon. They're just those if you have carpet, you get the Velcro ones that'll just kind of attach to the carpet. If you have like a lot of the rubber floors now, they have they even have those that are the stick and wheel. Yeah. So where you can you can stick them down and they'll they'll stick, but they're not on it. Okay. I haven't seen those. And you can move them to a new spot. speaker-0: Yeah, I've used change tape, but but I I love that they have those now. That's great. speaker-1: Yeah, they do. And a lot of it like if you if and I I go into a lot of elementary music rooms because of student teacher stuff. And that's where I saw those the first time was they've got different colors, different shapes. ⁓ I've been in classrooms that were a rubber floor, I've been in where they're a wood floor, I've been in when they're carpeted, and they all have them. I mean that's elementary music classes have that. speaker-0: Why don't we? You know, I mean it's not Yeah, you know that's exactly right. It's it but it's like people like I don't want it to look elementary. That's not. That's organization. It's organized. That's being comfortable and and it also has it tweaked and someone will say, Well, the fools are gonna turn their chairs. Is that I didn't say it had to stay perfect for when they're in the chair. You you change it, you make it for you. Just like you raise the stand up, you know, and you push it away from where maybe the the dot is, but they have to put it back that way. speaker-1: Yeah. That way there's an aisle down the road where kids can walk. speaker-0: Walk. That's how I am too. Yeah. I like that better. Some people like the stand all the way into the chair. I don't because I it I just also at the beginning of the school year, beginners really don't need stands at the beginning, but if they have to have it because of the classes changing quickly, it ha it gives them space because they're bringing cases to their chair at the beginning. And also s if you can sit beginners every other row. I mean not row, every other chair. So, you know, at the very beginning, if you can. It helps. It helps with all the all the stuff. speaker-1: Well and you know, another thing that I will say before we kind of move on a little bit, but as far as being consistent in your rehearsals, I am a true believer and I see I've seen this with my student teachers when I talk to them about it and they start implementing it with young directors and older directors who have never done this. I was always big about, you know, we're not just gonna have today's objectives on the whiteboard or the chalkboard or whatever. Or projective. But we're gonna talk about what today's objectives are, what the expectations are for this class, not only from a learning standpoint, but from a behavioral standpoint. Right. You know, and just remind them. And you'll get to a point where you shouldn't have to remind them about the behavior stuff. Right. But the the learning objectives you need to talk about every day. And then I really feel like at the end of rehearsal, give yourself one minute to go back and say, All right, did we meet today's goals? Yes or no? Raise your hand if if we met those goals. Yeah. If we didn't meet those goals, somebody tell me, Joe, tell me why we didn't meet those goals. What do we think? And they'll tell you what they think. They'll tell you most of the time, Well, we talked too much or we'll be honest. speaker-0: You spent too much time on letter B, you know. I mean seriously, they will tell at him and say, Well, you gotta practice letter B, you know, because it's not there yet. Yes. Yes, there's a reason. speaker-1: Seriously, absolutely. Yeah, there's better at meeting your objective. So what are we gonna do tomorrow? But you gotta have that conversation with them because if they don't really understand what you're expecting out of them from a learning standpoint that day, they're a lot less likely to achieve that than if they know exactly what you want them to be able to do by the end of class. speaker-0: That's what I love about it. It gives them ownership. It is their band. It is their team. You know, and I use the word team more than band now when I'm in front of students because it's so relatable to them being in on a soccer team, a basketball team since they were five or six or seven or whatever they were volleyball, whatever. And so this is a team. It's a band team. It's like it just makes them go. I own this. This is me. But you're helping guide us. And help us helping us get better and achieve what we what our goals are, but it's mine. It's ours. It's you know, so it's it's really good. speaker-1: Yeah, I really agree with you. I love the the ⁓ idea of referring to that as a team, especially for our beginners who that may have been their only ⁓ group activity is being on a sports team before being in the band. So I think that's a really great way to to think about it and ⁓ get them on board with what's going on as a group and not isolating everybody like we tend to do, especially a beginner band where ⁓ it's percussion or ⁓ it's the flute section or things like that. But ⁓ helping them to understand that even though we're we may have separate classes, we're all gonna come together and make music together. So I think that's ⁓ a great place to stop for this first episode. We've got a lot more to to discuss on this same subject, but we'll get into that in episode two. And that's gonna do it for this episode of the Unconducted Curriculum Podcast. speaker-0: We hope you found something today that you can take back to your classroom, your rehearsal, or your band program. speaker-1: Because great programs aren't built in a single rehearsal. They're built one decision, one student, and one day at a time. speaker-0: If you enjoyed today's conversation, share the podcast with another music educator who might find it helpful. speaker-1: And remember, there's always more to being a great band director than what's written in the score. Part of the unconducted curriculum. I'm Chris McClellan. I'm Tina Fr. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. speaker-0: Par Wheel.